Daniel Allott

President Obama’s speech Wednesday signaling his intention to normalize relations with Cuba (including, eventually, lifting the trade embargo) has prompted many passionate responses from Americans. But Obama’s speech — in which he also announced that Alan Gross, an American contractor who spent five years in a Cuban jail, had been released to American custody in exchange […]

When Senator Ted Cruz delivered the keynote address at last Wednesday’s inaugural In Defense of Christians Summit in Washington, D.C., he was expected to place a much-needed spotlight on the plight of the ancient and persecuted Christian communities of the Middle East. Instead, under the guise of supporting Israel, Cruz placed the spotlight squarely on […]

“Police name suspect Daniel Allott, wanted in connection with fatal stabbing” That was the headline that greeted me one morning in April. It dropped into my email inbox in the form of a Google Alert I’d set up to track where and when articles I write are published. Of course, I knew I wasn’t the […]

Feces and blood. Those are the images that have stayed with me since I watched Solitary Nation, part one of a PBS documentary series that debuted in late April called Locked Up in America. It offers a glimpse of life for inmates in solitary confinement at a supermax prison in Maine. In the process of […]

Russell Wilson is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He has exceptional arm strength and passing accuracy, is one of the league’s most dynamic running quarterbacks and has the leadership skills and football IQ of a ten-year NFL veteran. But the second-year starter, who will lead the Seattle Seahawks against the Denver Broncos in […]

Will Hillary Clinton run for president? It is the question that will dominate politics for the next sixteen months. Some say Hillary has lost the edge needed to endure another grueling presidential campaign. But make no mistake: She will run, and she will be formidable. Hillary is every bit the political animal that Barack Obama […]

For many Democrats, the decision to support or oppose a particular policy or piece of legislation often hinges on a simple question: Does it alleviate pain and suffering? This pain principle informs the party’s traditional opposition to torture and the death penalty. It is why President Obama cites empathy—the act of understanding and being sensitive […]

Until recently, if a pregnant woman wanted to determine the genetic health of her baby, she had to endure a series of crude and invasive tests. Early in her second trimester, she would be given a blood test called the triple screen, which measures levels of three hormones in her bloodstream. The results of that […]

Yoani Sánchez seemed exhausted when she arrived to give a talk at the Czech embassy in Washington, D.C., on a Tuesday evening in late March. The well-known Cuban blogger and dissident was in the middle of an 80-day, twelve-country tour. (Sánchez was given permission to leave Cuba in February after the Cuban government changed a […]

The Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers is making headlines today. But it’s only a momentary diversion from what has been, and will remain, the NFL’s dominant storyline: the increasing awareness of head injuries, the escalating debate over what to do about them — and the growing sense that football’s long-term […]